Solve The Problem

“Solve the problem!” was the thought that swam around in my head tonight as I really needed to print out some important mortgage refinancing documents, along with some contract papers that will allow me to get paid to do public speaking. These are two important sets of documents for me right now! My printer, an HP Office Jet 7780, has plagued me without printing for many months. The problem of not printing was too big for me to handle.

But tonight, I got mean. I got angry. Not in an Incredible Hulk kind of way, but more in an inner resolve kind of way. I clenched my fists and said, “I’ve had it!” I walked over to the printer and took down every piece of information about it, starting with the name. I was the officer and this frigging printer was being pulled over for driving under the influence. I took charge and using Google scoured online for a solution. And I scoured…

UNTIL

What a magic word until is. I’ve said it before and will say it again. Until! I scoured until I found a solution that worked. Predictably, the first few solutions I found didn’t work. I hunted through forums until I came across someone saying to install an entire software package that could be downloaded from HP’s (Hewlett Packard) website. This was the software and driver for the HP 7780 Office Jet I found.

The technical details aren’t so important here. What is important is that tonight I resolved to find a solution until it was found. An important lesson was reiterated to me tonight. And I think for you it might be a good wake up call. I know you have a top few things that you want to do. And you may have tried to make headway on them in the past, but your ideas had more resolve than you did. That’s okay. Because now you can decide for yourself right now. Decide right now that you will move toward who you are meant to be UNTIL you get there.

Don’t stop because a few failures discourage you. Don’t stop because the money doesn’t seem to be coming in. Were money my main reason for blogging, I’d have quit a long time ago. But I know that the money will be there sometime in the future. It will not come UNTIL I have paid the price and become the person I need to be to be worthy of it. Whatever problems and challenges are in your way, we live in a time of technological wonder. You CAN solve the problems that are preventing you from becoming who you are meant to be by simply logging on to the Internet!

But it won’t be easy. It’s like being locked in a battle with a warrior much stronger than yourself. In order to win you are going to have to claw and scratch. You are going to have to scream and yell. You are going to have to clench your fist and take blow after blow. The enemy warrior is there to test you. To see if you are truly worthy of the thing you desire. And after many battles the time may come where the warrior yields to you and cannot stop your relentless assault. But you only become relentless after much time and building up the momentum to do so.

Solve your problems

If your problem is that you don’t get up early, resolve to do it and use the time to increase your skills. Resolve that no matter how much it hurts, you will wake up when that alarm goes off. Train yourself if you have to. Spend an hour each evening lying in your bed and waking up to your alarm. Don’t just wake up to it, actually get out of bed. If your problem is that you don’t feel qualified, then find the books you need to read and start reading. Find the people who are qualified and study them. Spend the time going through my archives and learning from my experiences as well.

The wonderful thing is that you are here reading this right now. This tells me you have a desire and willingness to try. You’re in the minority. I salute you for your willingness to try. I had a breakthrough when I did my first public speaking assignment and realized there are people who are willing to listen and make an effort. It says a lot about your character that you are willing to choose for yourself to make yourself better.

I’m smiling right now. But I have to be honest. Today was tough at work. Trying to bring together groups of people and create a self organizing and efficient process is tough. That’s my new role as of two weeks ago. But the same resolve I found tonight will carry over tomorrow and the next day UNTIL I’ve created a self organizing process and initiated a change in philosophy at the company I presently work for as my day job.

This may sound cheesy, but I picture myself like King Midas. The legend says that whatever he touched turned to gold. As I think each moment of every day, I am literally calculating how I can turn a situation to gold. How I can make a wrong a right. What value will I bring to make something better. How will I make a process or procedure better than what it currently is. And the more opposition I face, the more I will look for a solution until it is found.

My message for you tonight is simple. I know you have a few problems in your life that you’ve put off solving. Maybe it hasn’t been important to you. Maybe the answer has eluded you. But when you get certain about something and resolve to do it, there is nothing that can’t stop a human will that sets its course to do so. It’s like the set of the sail in the direction that will take you where you want to go.

image by Cridland